The Bihar government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is to start the first phase of caste based survey in the State from Saturday, January 7, which will end on January 21. The number of all households in the State will be counted and recorded in the first phase, while in second phase of the survey which is to start from April 1 to April 30, people living in the households, their castes, sub-castes, socio-economic conditions etc. will be collected. The survey will end on May 31, 2023.
While speaking to media persons on Friday in course of his ongoing samadhan yatra (solution journey), Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said in Sheohar that “the survey will be a detailed record on castes and communities in the State. It will help in their development”.
Earlier on June 2, 2022, the State cabinet had approved the all-party demand for a caste based survey in the State, including gathering information of socio-economic status of households. The Bihar legislative Assembly too had earlier passed a unanimous resolution in favour of caste based survey. Later, leaders of all political parties, including the BJP, had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to demand caste based Census in the country. “When they [the BJP government at the centre] ruled out the demand and did nothing, we decided to do a caste based survey in Bihar on our own”, said CM Nitish Kumar, while adding “we’ll send the report of the survey to them”.
It is said that the caste based survey in the caste-ridden society of Bihar would essentially help two ruling parties JD(U) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) most as they have support of most of the socially and economically backward caste groups. The survey report would help them in better implementation of welfare schemes for the socially and economically disadvantaged groups.
In the first phase of the survey, the 5.24 lakh surveyors, mostly teachers, agriculture coordinators, rojgar sewaks, vikas mitras, MNREGA staff, Asha workers, Jeevika didis, would count each of 2.58 crore households in urban and rural areas across all 38 districts of the State. The survey would cover an estimated population of 12.70 crore in the State. Following this, all information would be uploaded in a portal. “All the surveyors have earlier been given training on how to collect information, data etc.,” Chief Minister Nitish Kumar added.
In the second leg of the survey, surveyors would visit each household and gather information about the caste of family members, their socio-economic profile, exposure to government’s welfare schemes etc. There would be as many as 26 columns in the survey form in the second phase and all such details will be uploaded in the portal.
Data and information would be collected digitally through a mobile application as part of the eight-level survey from the panchayat to the district level, said an official of the General Administration Department (GAD) which will carry out the survey. “The app will have questions about place, caste, number of people in the family, their profession and annual income,” he said, preferring anonymity.
“Information will be taken even of those family members who are living outside the State. It will be a detailed survey on the profile of caste and communities in the State and that will help in their development,” said Mr. Kumar.
